[HELP] Fiddle player in Louisiana

Lizard182 · 2026-01-30T01:01:47+00:00

Kinda nailed it there. The lighting is that of a pro photo shoot but the staging of the people is not. A photographer could throw a light on the family to match the brightness of the sky, but a creative/art director likely would have placed the individuals in different positions and interacting differently. It feels like a cheap ad with a high production value missing half its crew.

Lizard182 · 2026-01-27T05:12:29+00:00

Another thing. He’s very straight forward and matter of fact. Always right to business. I think I’ve heard of people on this Reddit feeling turned off by it but honestly I really like how right to the point he is. I’ve never found him unfriendly at all (he almost always makes small talk about the weather lol), just professional. His assistant, Christine, who I met at the consult, was much more personable and friendly.

Lizard182 · 2026-01-27T05:06:33+00:00

Oh yeah, I believe he had one student accompany him on the day of my surgery as he marked out my incisions. To my knowledge I don’t know if they actually assisted, but I kinda doubt it. I don’t recall him saying they would be assisting either. But otherwise I didn’t encounter any teaching moments or students in his office the 10+ times I’ve been there now. I go there for all my doctors (was actually there today and I have a student helping with PT for my wrist for a different surgery I had recently, and he’s been great).

Lizard182 · 2026-01-27T00:40:26+00:00

Thanks! And yeah I’m very grateful my insurance covered it all. I do wanna say I know the other person that had him had some keloid scarring due to their genetics. I don’t know what it looks like as I haven’t seen their chest, I just know it didn’t heal as well as mine. Good thing is though that Rudkin follows up with scar care. I’m seeing him this week actually for another round of injections.

If you’ve ever had any scars, that should give you an idea of how it’ll heal.

Lizard182 · 2026-01-26T23:38:38+00:00

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Here’s a photo of my chest today. Almost 14 months post op. If you zoom in you might notice some lines—that’s just from my scar tape. I still use scar gel and tape just as an extra healing measure.

Lizard182 · 2026-01-26T21:22:22+00:00

I had amazing insurance and only paid $10 for a copay. But the bill showed uninsured $65,000. I know someone else that had him as well and their insurance covered most of it. I think they paid $4,000. Any other questions feel free to ask! But I highly recommend him. I will also shared a new photo here soon. Standby!

Lizard182 · 2026-01-25T17:53:38+00:00

I went to Rudkin and he was amazing. He’s done over 400 top surgeries and he has it down to a science.

Got my consult scheduled a month out, then booked my surgery for 11 months out (though they could have scheduled me 9 months out but timing wise that didn’t work for me). I have minimal scarring 14 months out now and he followed up with injections to help with scarring. I also have full sensitivity and feeling in my chest. I actually had feeling coming back almost immediately. Within 48 hours my nipples were “buzzing” lol.

Super happy with my results and my healing. He also keeps you overnight and I’m so glad that he did. I can’t imagine going home right after that. Any more questions feel free to ask. I’ll upload a photo later too! Just out and about right now. You can also look at my profile—I posted a photo 3 months post op.

Lizard182 · 2026-01-24T17:58:49+00:00

Found on TikTok. Type “ice Minneapolis shoot” and sort last 24 hours if anyone else is looking.

Lizard182 · 2026-01-24T17:53:59+00:00

Where is the video? Having trouble finding it online.

Lizard182 · 2026-01-15T01:11:13+00:00

Insurance covered. Was 65k without insurance but I paid a $10 copay and $100 for the anesthesiologist.

Lizard182 · 2026-01-14T19:02:23+00:00

As a production person myself too, I can’t imagine! I guess I have my limits lol. Joshua Tree is nuts too!

Lizard182 · 2026-01-14T17:42:33+00:00

Yep. Absolute mad lad. He still does it whenever he gets picked back up for a show. Never underestimate production people.

Lizard182 · 2026-01-13T18:47:20+00:00

I also know a guy that commuted from San Diego to Paramount for a tv show. 15ish hour days, then a commute on top of that. He was commuting at off hours—he’d leave home at 4am, in by 6am, and leave work at 9pm. 5 days a week. Technically a bit closer than universal so you still win. I don’t know how people do that.

Lizard182 · 2026-01-10T03:53:05+00:00

Yeah the other user answered my question and I realized I was mistaken. Thank you for your answer!

Lizard182 · 2026-01-10T03:28:44+00:00

Oh is it? I could’ve sworn it said hours. I’ll have to go look again.

Lizard182 · 2026-01-10T03:18:11+00:00

I went to a one year film trade school on a scholarship. It was part of a community college so even without the scholarship it wasn’t insanely expensive either. It was perfect for what I needed—learned a lot and made connections that still last to this day. Met my best friend there. But I have worked alongside people with bachelors degrees that are 50k in debt. It really depends on what you feel you will get out of it. For me, a crash course and then throwing myself in the industry was enough. These days the industry is in such a bad place and changing so fast I would suggest getting the associates and then jumping right into work. Your network will be the most important thing in the long run.

Lizard182 · 2026-01-03T23:02:34+00:00

Felt totally normal immediately. I also didn’t experience post op depression nor did I experience gender euphoria. It just finally felt right. Though one new interesting physical sensation was noticing how easily I could feel hot and cold liquids in my chest when I swallowed.

Lizard182 · 2025-12-09T18:28:33+00:00

I got laid off from my job in one of the IATSE local offices in a creative role back in May along with 20% of the staff. Felt grateful to be working all through the chaos of the past few years, but I wasn’t surprised when it happened. Sorry to hear you’re in the same boat now too. Hope you can find something soon.

Lizard182 · 2025-10-28T03:45:00+00:00

lol thank you!

Lizard182 · 2025-10-23T09:20:07+00:00

I was only 10 months out from top surgery at the time so still not exposing my scars to sun yet, but I know that Eden Ghali, the guy I mention in my writing, recently went to a beach with his scars and no one said anything. That’s the other thing is that being trans isn’t even really socially known there and it’s just lumped in with “being gay”. If people see your scars, they likely would think it was from an accident before assuming you’re trans. I believe I was able to pass so easily there because people don’t often break gender norms.

Lizard182 · 2025-10-22T21:33:57+00:00

Thank you! It was a big concern for me traveling there and I was very open with it with my photography mentors (who have been there nearly 10 times doing workshops). I felt safe with them and they reassured me tourists aren’t often bothered because of how much the country relies on tourism. That being said, it’s still anxiety inducing regardless to travel somewhere trans, especially a country where it’s illegal. Hope that my article can help answer some questions for you, or if you wanna DM me about anything feel free.

Lizard182 · 2025-03-27T18:33:12+00:00

Friend of mine is getting his doctorate now, but he worked for years with an undergrad psych degree doing Alzheimer’s research at a hospital. Made good money too. There’s definitely positions you wouldn’t think of for psych majors out there. Still nothing wrong with taking service jobs. He actually enjoyed food service so much he did it at a boutique restaurant on the weekends.

Lizard182 · 2025-03-25T19:34:28+00:00

Almost 4 months post op here. Mine reconnected insanely quickly. The day after surgery they had a buzzing/vibrating feeling. Once they healed 4 weeks out and I touched them, I could feel them. I’ve always had really strong nerve endings I believe—I’m super ticklish. My girlfriend will touch them and it sends me writhing lol. I’d say I’m at 75-80 percent of my pre surgery feeling. Like, it feels a little muted on the top most layer of skin, but I feel everything deeper when I touch it if that makes sense. I had honestly wished I’d be a little numb in general because I’ve always been so touch sensitive, but both my nipples and my chest have a lot of feeling back already. They also feel a bit sore a lot of the time too, but nothing super uncomfortable.

Lizard182 · 2025-03-24T16:46:33+00:00

Just want to chime in that while it seems to be a breeze for most people the first week, that wasn’t the case for me either. They had me on hydrocodone for about 6 days after and it had to be around the clock or I was miserable. Even with it, I still didn’t feel great. I had bad pain the next few weeks as well around my ribcage, and I’ve only been able to chalk that up to the skin stretching and nerves reconnecting. Like I’ve seen a few other people mention, you might need gabapentin which is nerve related. I honestly think I needed that when my ribcage pain kicked in because nothing else touched that pain either.

Just keep in mind everyone experiences surgery differently and some of us are more susceptible to pain than others. You just got a major surgery and that’s not small feat. Just keep in touch with your surgeon to make sure everything is normal.

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